Improvement in water-wheels



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HENRY V. SHIPL'EY, OF PORTLAND, OREGON Letters Patent No. 72,331. dated December 17, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-WHEELS.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, HENRY W. SHIPLEY, of Portland, in the county of Multnomah, and State of Oregon, have invented a new and improved Water-Wheel; and I do hereby 'declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ot'the same, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this speci-- fication, and in which-- I Figure 1 is a vertical axial section of my inventionthrough the line x a: of fig. 21.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the same; and

Figure 3 is a cross-section of a part of the same, through the line 3 3 of fig. 1.

\ Similar letters of reference -indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The object of this invention is to obtain a wheel which will utilize the power of small streams of water to a degree not hitherto obtained.

In the drawings, A represents the vertical shaft of the wheel, workingupon a spindle-slip, B, and designed to'be enclosed within a circular casing, which it closely fits. The rimof the wheel, from the lineIx to the line w, is made very wide, and is provided with three rows of buckets, the central row,'D D, receiving the water from 4 the periphery of the enclosing-box, and discharging it through the openings 0 0, into the space at the centre of the wheel, whence it escapes at the bottom; the upper row, E, receiving the water in the. same manner, and discharging it at the openings'u u, along the line x, whence it flows over the top of the rim andfalls into the central space with the other water escaping at the bottom; and the lower row, E, receiving-the waterin the same manner, and discharging it directly into the waste-way, through the openings at u, along the line a.

The central row of buckets is enclosed between two projecting rings 1' 7'', provided with exterior and interior flanges, the side rows lying between the rings and up'per and lower edges of the rim respectively. The central row is constructed of a series of double curved plates, d d, enclosed between the walls of the rings or annular partitions r 1, their outer ends being fiushwith the outer edges of the .ring, and their inner edge being flush with the inner edges of the lower ring. The side'buckets are composed ofia single curved plate, 0, extending from the ring out towards the edge of the rimiof the wheel, and thence curving backward along the edge of the rim till they come opposite to the centre of the curve of the next bucket, where they terminate, leaving/ i the space an, between their rear edge and the convex surface of the curved bucket, behind them, for the water to escape through, as above described. 7 The side buckets areexceedingly shallow, and are quite narrow, being, in the working-wheels which I have been using, only one and a'quarter'inch in width, in a wheel of fifteen inches diameter. I I

The water is not intended to be admitted to the whole width of the rim at once, but only to the central row and about hali" the width of the side r' ows of buckets adjacent to the central row. a As it strikes the pro jecting edge of the upper ring 1, it will be divided, apartof it passing above the ring and apart falling below it. Some provision has to be made here to counteract the gravity and force of that portion of the water which is driven upward from the ring, otherwise it would, to some extent, retard the action of the wheel. The upper ring is accordingly made decreasing in thickness from the surface of the rim to the outer edge of the ring, as shown clearly at n n in fig. 1, the decrease-in thickness being equal, or'nc arly so, on both sides of the ring. It is necessary that the upper side of thering should slant upward, in order to throw the water upward towards the projections u u; and it is necessary that the lower side should have an equal or greater slant downward in order to exert a counterbalancing force on that side oi the ring. to counteract the reaction of the water against the upper side of the ring, and the gravity ofthe water pressing against the upper side of the ring. The lower ring needs no such provision, as the water falls from the under side of it by its own weight, and passes directly into the central space of the wheel along the upper side of this ring.

In connection with these features of my'invention, I use a set of radial buckets, C 0, arranged around the lower end of the shaft A, at a considerable distance below the central buckets, like the paddles of a screwpropeller,.their outer ends resting against and attached to the inner walls of' the rim, as shown clearly in fig. 1, and their inner ends attached to and projecting from a bell-shaped hub or cone F, enclosing the lower part of the shaft, and turning with it, the hub being firmly fixed to the shaft for the purpose of supporting the ends of the radial buckets and throwing the'water away from the shaft so as to cause it to act chiefly upon the outer extremity of the buckets. That portion of the upper ring r which projects inward aroundwthe interior of the wheel above the central row of buckets D D, is made curving downwards along its inner edge, as shown in fig. 1, .so as todischarge the water that falls upon it from the top of the rim freely upon the radial buckets G G beneath. It projects inward much farther than the lower ring, and operates to turn downward the water rushing in from the central buckets D D, causing it to pass directly to the radial buckets. In this manner the whole force of the water is twice utilized to its fullest extent, once in passing from the periphery of the wheel to its centre, and again upon the radial buckets, in escaping from the central space to the waste-way. The power of the wheel is greatly increased by this simple and effective arrangement, and the wheel is found to be able to do from twenty to fifty per cent. more work than any other wheel of its size, and using the same amount of water. V

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination and arrangement of the conical hub F and radial buckets C 0, when arranged at the bottom of the shaft A, with the upper ring r, constructed with exterior and interior flanges of the shape described, the lower ring 1' and the exterior buckets D E E, forming a water-wheel which operates in the mannet and for the purposes specified,

H. W. SHIPLEY.

Witnesses:

CHAS. A. Pnmm, SoLoN C. KEMON. 

